Murray eases past Chela in Madrid

Andy Murray

Andy Murray will focus only on his first match at this week’s Madrid Open as he attempts to recover some form following an indifferent start to 2010.

The Scot gets a first-round bye as the third seed and will play Pablo Cuevas or a qualifier in his opening game.

Murray could face Roger Federer or Andy Roddick in the semi-finals.

"I’ve not made it past the second round in a tournament for the last three or four so it’s totally pointless for me to look any further," said Murray.

The Scot enjoyed a fine start to the year when he reached the Australian Open final before losing to Federer in straight sets.

Since then, though, he has had a disappointing run with five wins and five defeats in his five tournament appearances.

Prior to last month’s Rome Masters the Scot had been knocked out at the first hurdle in successive tournaments in Miami and Monte Carlo.

And although he managed to negotiate his way past Andreas Seppi in his opening match in Italy, he then fell to David Ferrer in the following round.

"I’ve got to win my first match. I know it’s boring but that’s what I’ve got to do," said Murray.

"I need to just try and win my first match and then we’ll see. It depends how a lot of the other guys play, you never know how the draws will work out.

"I just want to play well, if I play well then I’ll be happy.

"I’d love to win the tournament but unfortunately I’m in a position right now where I need to focus very hard from the first matches and fight my way through the early rounds.

"If I can do that then I’ll give myself a chance of doing well, but I’m not going to get ahead of myself."

Murray’s bid to win his first title of 2010 received a boost when world number two, and last year’s semi-finalist, Novak Djokovic withdrew from the tournament.

Djokovic took the decision after being forced to retire from the Serbia Open during his quarter-final with fellow Serb Filip Krajinovic due to illness and allergies.

If there are no upsets his semi-final opponent is set to be world number one and defending champion Federer, who begins against either Spanish wildcard Carlos Moya or Germany’s Benjamin Becker.

The Swiss arrives in Madrid on the back of a surprise semi-final defeat by Spain’s Albert Montanes on a heavy clay court slowed by a day of rain at the Estoril Open.

Rafael Nadal, last year’s runner-up in Madrid, is seeded second and will meet either Italy’s Andreas Seppi or a qualifier in the second round.

The Spanish world number three, who won the Madrid title in 2005, is looking to break Andre Agassi’s Open Era record of 17 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 trophies.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

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